Countess of Bridgewater, at Ashridge, in Hertfordshire. It was cultivated some time ago by the gardeners in Sussex and Hampshire. By timely sowings the Vanack Cabbage is always in season; it makes excellent spring Coleworts, becomes a white-hearted Cabbage very early, and pushes fine sprouts from the stump after the Cabbages are cut. In quality it is inferior to none of the best Cabbages.

13. CAPSICUM.

The Capsicum cultivated in the garden for its fruit, is an annual plant, a native of India. a native of India. The pods are used in a green state for pickling; and, ripe, for mixing with other ingredients, as Tomatos, &c. to form sauces. They are also dried and ground, and used like Cayenne pepper.

There is a great number of varieties, some of which are yellow, others red, and others black. The colour, direction, and figure of the fruit is also very variable; the sorts with small oblong erect pods are the hottest, and are commonly called Chilies.

The seed should be sown in March or beginning of April, on a moderate hot-bed. When two inches high, they should be pricked out into small pots of three inches diameter, afterwards to be repotted and placed under a frame, where they may be hardened to the open air by degrees. In June, they should be turned out of the pots into a south border of light rich soil, at twelve or fifteen inches asunder. Should the nights prove cold, they must be sheltered with a mat, otherwise they will require no further trouble; and their fruit will be fit to gather green in August, and ripe in September.

14. CARAWAY.

Carum Carui, or Caraway, is a biennial plant, a native of Britain. It is cultivated both in agriculture

and horticulture for its fruit, which is used to flavour cakes, to form sugar-plums or comfits, to flavour spirits, and to form a carminative distilled water.

The seeds should be sown broadcast in March or April; and when the plants are two or three inches high, they should be thinned out to five or six inches apart.

They will require no other care than to keep them clean from weeds, till the fruit is ripe in the following

summer.

15. CARDOONS.

The Cardoon, Cynara Cardunculus, is greatly admired by many, and ought to have a place in every gentleman's garden. The stalks of the leaves, usually called the ribs, when blanched, are the useful part. They grow very large, three, four, or five feet high; and in autumn, when full grown and blanched, they are tender and well-flavoured.

The following sorts are grown in France, and are also known in this country:

1. Common Cardoon.

Cardon Plein Inerme.
Cardon Plein sans épines.

2. Spanish Cardoon.
Cardon d'Espagne.

3. Cardoon of Tours.

Cardon de Tours épineux à côtes très pleines.

Cardon Piquant.

4. Red Cardoon.

Cardon à côtes rouges.

The French gardeners have for some time cultivated two sorts of Cardoon; Nos. 2. and 3., the latter being by them considered the best, because, they say, its ribs are thicker, more tender, and delicate. With us, however, the Spanish Cardoon appears the best, as we find the ribs are larger and more solid than the others. One sort is quite sufficient for a garden; that, therefore, which has its ribs perfectly solid, and at the same time large, is to be preferred.

The soil to be chosen for the growth of Cardoons should be deep and light, but not over rich. Sow the seeds about the middle of April, in trenches six inches deep, and twelve inches wide, into which a small quantity of rotten dung has been previously dug. The rows to be set four feet distance from each other, and the seed sown in patches, three or four together, at about eighteen inches apart. When the plants have acquired four or five leaves, they should be thinned out to single plants. During summer they must be kept clean from weeds, and, in dry weather, frequently watered, as they require a good deal of moisture. About the end of October, when the plants have attained nearly their full size, a dry day is to be chosen, when the plants are free from damp. The leaves of each plant are carefully and lightly tied together with strong matting, keeping the whole upright, and the ribs of the leaves together. The plant is then bound closely round with twisted haybands, about an inch and a half in diameter, beginning at the root, and continuing to about two-thirds of its height, covering the whole so as to prevent the earth, when applied to it, coming in contact with the ribs of the leaves. If the Cardoons are to be used early, and before frost sets in, the plants may remain thus banded without earthing up, and will become sufficiently blanched for use; but if there is any danger of their being exposed to frost, then it is necessary that they should be earthed up in the same manner as Celery, care being taken that this is done in a dry day, and not to raise the earth higher than the haybands.

There have been other methods of blanching recommended; but this has been practised in the Horticultural Garden at Chiswick, and the plants have been superior, both in colour and the length of the blanched part, to others under different management.

16. CARROTS.

The Carrot, Daucus Carota, is a biennial plant, a native of this country; and although in its wild state it approaches but little to the appearance of our garden Carrot, yet it is allowed by all writers to be the original stock from whence all the cultivated varieties have sprung: the roots of the latter are of a red-yellow or orange colour, yellow, purple, or white.

The following are the principal sorts at present cultivated here, and also in the French and Dutch gardens:

The Altringham Carrot is an intermediate variety between the Horn Carrot and the Long-rooted.

For early crops the two first are the most proper ; they are sown on hot-beds in February, or on a warm south border early in March. The early sowing on the border will require a shelter of haulm, or fern leaves, occasionally, in the event of frost and cutting wind.

The Orange and Altringham Carrot are sown from the middle of March to the middle of April, and are the principal sorts for winter use. Succession sowings for drawing as young Carrots may be made in May, June, July, and August.

17. CAULIFLOWERS.

The Cauliflower, Choufleur of the French, is esteemed the most delicate of the Cabbage tribe: it is annual, and produces its flower in the autumn, if sown in the spring. We possess two varieties only, viz. :

1. Early Cauliflower.

2. Late Cauliflower.

For spring Cauliflowers the seed is usually sown from the 15th to the 20th of September, and the young plants sheltered through the winter, either by planting them under hand-glasses, or in frames, so that they may be covered during cold and frosty weather, and air given them when it is mild. For the autumnal crop, the seed should be sown upon a moderate hot-bed the end of March, or under hand-glasses; these will come in during August and for a later crop, the seed should be sown the beginning or middle of May; this sowing will produce its heads in October and November. If some of the plants of this last sowing be taken up and laid in as directed for Broccoli, they will be more secure, in case of cold wet weather at the end of the season.

18. CELERY.

The native wild Celery, Apium graveolens, is found in ditches and marshy ground, especially near the seacoast, in various parts of England. It is biennial, and flowers in August and September. The seeds and whole plant, in its native ditches, are said by Sir J. E. Smith to be acrid and dangerous, with a strong taste and smell. By culture it becomes the mild and grateful garden Celery. The following are the principal sorts cultivated in our gardens:

1. Italian.

2. Red Solid.

3. White Solid.

4. Celeriac.
Turnip-rooted.
Celeri rave.